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Indonesia and Australia joined forces Wednesday to promote
greater cooperation in combating illegal fishing and promote
responsible fishing in the Asia Pacific region.
The two nations called on 12 countries attending a regional meeting in
Jakarta on Wednesday to discuss effective methods of reducing fishing
overcapacity and combating illegal fishing in order to secure
sustainable fish stocks in the South China Sea, Celebes Sea and Arafuru
Sea.
The 12 countries are Brunei Darussalam, China, Cambodia, Timor Leste,
Japan, Malaysia, Palau, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
and Papua New Guinea.
Indonesia's representative, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister
Freddy Numberi, said that responsible fishing at the regional level was
essential to securing sustainable global fish stocks.
Figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that in
2004, only 23 percent of global fish stocks remained unexploited, while
the rest were being overexploited.
"Much of the illegal fishing is done by international crime syndicates
and not by traditional fishermen. This means that these criminals are
stealing from the many small communities on our coastlines that depend
on fish for their livelihoods," Freddy said.
Of the 150 million tons of fish caught around the world annually, 44
million tons are illegally caught, according to figures provided by the
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry. In Indonesia, of a total catch
of approximately 6.4 million tons last year, the country lost about 1.5
million tons due to illegal fishing.
Freddy said that the problem should be made a regional issue as it was
also in other countries' interests to preserve their maritime resources.
As well as discussing the prevention of overfishing and illegal
fishing, the meeting, which was attended by senior officials from 14
countries, also discussed how scientific management methods could be
applied so as to conserve fish stocks.
Commenting on the meeting, Australian Ambassador Bill Farmer said that
Australia and Indonesia were already working together to fight against
illegal fishing. He expressed the hope that this partnership might
serve as a good model for regional cooperation.
The Australian government gave Indonesia a US$72 million grant Monday
to develop its small-scale fishing industry and upgrade maritime
security.
Australia also agreed to conduct joint operations with Indonesia to
monitor their shared borders so as to minimize illegal fishing.
"We hope that we can develop such cooperation with other countries,
including Thailand, the Philippines and China," Farmer said.
To meet the need for greater cooperation at the regional level, the
meeting also discussed an assessment of capacity-building and
knowledge-exchange needs in the region, and the development and
implementation of a regional monitoring, control and surveillance
network to facilitate data exchange and information-sharing.
The two-day meeting is a precursor to the regional ministerial meeting
scheduled for next year.
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